Profits & Gains - Thursday, March 10th

Readings of the Day

Gospel: Luke 9: 22-25
Jesus said to his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”

• lose: to come to be without something in one's possession or care, through accident, theft, etc. so that there is little or no prospect of recovery; to suffer the deprivation of; to bring to destruction or ruin; to let oneself go astray; to allow oneself to become absorbed or engrossed in something and oblivious to all else.
• What absorbs most of my time?  What causes me to lose "possession" of my self?  What engrosses my mind?
• save: to deliver from sin; to rescue or deliver from danger or harm; to preserve or guard from injury, destruction or loss (maintain, preserve); safeguard; to avoid the spending, consumption, or waste of.
• If I am not losing my life for Christ and His Kingdom, what am I preserving it for?  Do I truly believe He has, and can, save me?  Do I ask Him to?
• profit: returns, proceeds, or revenue, as from property or investments; the excess of returns over expenditure in a transaction or series of transactions.
• When the day is over, and I can say I truly carried my cross and followed Christ, what profit remains?  Has denying myself ever left me in the red?  How do I feel after a day I've saved my life and denied my cross?

Definitions from http://www.merriman-webster.com/ and http://www.dictionary.com/.